Stories 2023.02.07

The benefits of tailor-made products

Alexandra Wahlqvist joined Photowall as new CEO in September 2022. After meeting the future colleagues and getting to know the two brothers and founders, Niklas Lagander and Charlie Johansson, the decision to join the team was a no brainer.

“I have several times converted brick-and-mortar businesses into e-commerce, however with Photowall they were really born digital and my focus will be on scaling and growing our offer in new markets. But first and foremost, it was the company’s culture that attracted me to take on this role” said Alexandra Wahlqvist

Now you are almost six months into the job, how would you describe the culture?

The gut feeling and first impression I had about Photowall turned about to be even more true. Inclusion and wellbeing of our employees is at the top of the agenda. I’m also proud that we attract people from so many different backgrounds, with loads of different experiences and knowledge and that a majority of the seats in the leadership team are held by women.

But we need to make sure that we make diversity work in a day-to-day basis. I have learned so much from the team and the processes we have in place to ensure a welcoming and inclusive workplace. For instance, we foster inclusion and wellbeing by using an inclusive language and constantly checking that no one is left out.

So, tell us about what you do at Photowall

It may sound simple, but our strength is that we can give our customers exactly what they want.  We help them create the wallpaper or print they envisioned and desire. We make wallpaper exactly the size the customer need for their wall. If a customer wishes to make changes to our motifs our talented designers can adjust the colors and remove details in the image. Before making the final print, we send a digital sample to make sure it’s exactly what they asked for.

But I guess you still are breeding consumption?

We are re-using the same digital patterns again and again, we are very far from season centric fast consumer industry, we are just like slow fashion in our industry. And another benefit which is evident as every wallpaper order is tailor-made, we don’t create volumes of wallpapers based on trends or the latest fashion, we only produce what the customer ask for. So there is minimal excess. This way there is no unnecessary production and no waste. Our wallpaper is also FSC-certified, and we are proud of this, but equally important is the fact that our customers receive the wallpaper in the exact dimensions they need – therefore there is no excess in the sense that wallpaper is produced and never used.